Review of the day

No joy this afternoon at Limerick, where the way the race unfolded, seemed to find out Pippa Rose…

She was stepping back in trip, and so the last thing she needed was no pace in the race – but that is exactly what she got.

The field dawdled through the first mile, with things only starting getting serious, approaching the home turn.

Clearly Pippa Rose doesn’t posses much of a change of gear – and she was caught flat footed when that happened, losing a few lengths.

She started to close on the leaders on the run to the final hurdle, but really didn’t have anywhere to go – and ended up finishing on the heals of the placed horses…

Whether she would have been good enough to win in a truly run race, we’ll never know.

However, the market was certainly very keen on her chances as she was sent off 9/2 favourite.

Now I’m sure we helped the price drop a little – and there was a significant non runner – but all the same, the suggestion was that she was fancied today.

I’ll keep her on the radar and see where she goes next – I don’t think she is one to give up on just yet…

The mentions had a poor afternoon – and that is even by their recent standards !

It’s one thing putting up 25/1 shots that never feature - but when I put up 6/4 shots, I expect them to win ! (even if they are only mentions !).

That was the price of Black River this morning – and I honestly thought that still might represent value.

However, I was wrong…

A 9/4 opening show, became 7/2 at the off. Even allowing for the fact he was a bit keen on the way to the start, the suggestion was very much that someone knew he wasn’t the real deal...

We’ve already seen numerous example of market drifters that have won this season – but their profiles have not been like that of Black River.

The market portents were strongly negative this afternoon – and it came as no surprise to me that he ran a shocker.

It was fine example of why it is so difficult to generalise about price movements – unfortunately for us, each one has it’s own story…

Blood Cotil was another short priced one that I fancied today – but again I was wrong.

To be fair to him (and me !) he ran a perfectly respectable race – and I think he may have been beaten by a potential super star in Gilgamboa.

He’s always looked like a horse destined to go places – and if todays performance was anything to go by, he will be going places pretty soon!

I have taken a bit of the 16/1 on offer for the JLT race at the festival – though there is a chance he will be targeted at the Arkle.

Whichever race he runs in, I doubt he’ll be a 16/1 shot !

Good as Gold was another disappointing mention at Navan  - but Luddsdenene ran precisely as expected.

He came there cruising at the last – and then kept cruising up the run in…

I suspect that Gordon Elliot has improved him – he would have backed out far more obviously in the past – but he is always going to struggle in a battle.

The final mention to run, was Irish Thistle – and he briefly looked like causing a shock in the big race of the day, the Fortria chase.

He was certainly in with every chance jumping the second last – but ultimately, his lack of class caught him out.

He still managed to finish an honorable third – though with only 7 runners, that wouldn’t have been much good to anyone apart from his connections…

With a huge weekend on the horizon (the open meeting at Cheltenham), I plan to take off tomorrow and Tuesday.

I’ve got a few things that I need to catch up on – and I also want to produce a preview of the Betfair chase, for the ante-post blog.

I’ll confirm that there will indeed be ‘no tips’ on each of the mornings - I don’t want  to say categorically just yet, in case there happens to be another Broughton running on either day 

TVB.